One of Delhi’s most loved venues for acoustic gigs, upcoming as well as established musicians, The Piano Man Jazz Club came under significant amounts of fire this past week. And it was only because the name of a band had been derogatory of a certain section of society. Owner, Arjun Sagar Gupta, however, saw the band as having great musical potential. It was purely a musical decision. What the incident has really brought to the surface over the past few days is that at the very core of it, we are an intolerant country, and this incident in itself isn’t the only example in that sense. Having said that, yes, we need to be slightly more aware of how our ignorance might be offensive to others; especially since we already live in sensitive times that are somehow all the more fired up by social media backlash. We need to know the difference between creative freedoms and social offense. In a society like ours, we forget that everything—even art and creativity—is often taken personally.

Today, we stand to lose a great venue that has, ever since its inception within the city, worked towards creating, producing and curating quality music for artists, listeners and performers, alike. So, we need to be asking the right questions and thinking through our actions. The Piano Man Jazz Club has become a social meet for the thinking musicians, for the different musicians, for music that has always meant more. It attracts students, professionals, entrepreneurs and the older generations, alike because it spoke the language of music—a language that everyone understands and associates with. From having showcased performances by Vasundhara Vee, one of India’s leading female Jazz artists to giving younger musicians a platform to present their talents; from bringing in international Jazz quartets to curating homegrown experiences, the venue has earned a name for itself in a way that not many venues today have. But, does it deserve to meted out with such harsh judgments that could affect the functioning of the place?

The incident has, undoubtedly affected the entire independent music community, with lot of industry insiders—artists, event managers, venue owners—being in a shaken state of how a small and unforeseen incident could lead to such dire consequences. Is that really fair? Could it have been avoided? We got seven such individuals from within the community to voice their opinions about the incident and whether or not this issue could have been better managed. Here’s what they have to say…

Dhruv Visvanath, Musician, Dhruv Visvanath

“The first thing I'd like to say is that we all deserve to have an opinion and we all deserve an opportunity to respect and debate it. I think we defiled the very foundations of who we are by responding so aggressively towards the whole situation. It kind of harks back to how there were reports of the Tejas train left in tatters after its first journey. It made me feel as if we don't deserve nice things. I hope it doesn't affect things at the Piano man, I absolutely love and respect what they're doing and I would heartily encourage people to keep going to understand what they do there.”

“It's unfortunate how this situation has played out. People need to be aware that these terms are extremely derogatory, and cannot be appropriated as artistic freedoms. The name of the band in question was kept in poor taste, though I feel it's a case of ignorance to the implications of such a word. Arjun sagar Gupta of Piano man is not a malicious or racist individual, and has apologised for the misunderstanding. It was not his intent to marginalise any group and a band name kept by freelance musicians shouldn't reflect the views of the café.”

“In my opinion, people's approach in this hyper social media wave is to find flaws and blow it out of proportion. It’s all about term throwing and seems pretty petty to be honest. Changing of the artists name didnt stop people from stopping, even when the event was cancelled, it still wasn't good enough. The owner's apology was also scrutinised and regarded as pompous and privileged. People need to fucking chill the fuck out!”

Nishant Tyagi, Director, Grapevine Online

“The incident does highlight the fact that we're ignorant towards discrimination faced by certain sections of the society, but highlighting it as upper caste vs. lower caste issue would be wrong. The venue in question has garnered huge respect in terms of what they're contributing to the music scene, and calling them 'elitist' or 'privileged' because they allowed something they didn't have much insight shouldn't be the target here. The venue provides equal experience to everyone, irrespective of their caste, creed, or status. The artist and the venue were ignorant of the social issue and the views of the complainant were undermined initially not because the club is 'casteist', but because the gravity of this issue was not properly understood. Calling for a venue shutdown is not a long-term solution. This wouldn't help in actually making a size-able difference. Coming together and highlighting the current situation of the caste discrimination would. Let's use this incident as a reason to unite, not divide.”

Manas Tripathy, Strategic Alliances-Live Events, Phoenix Live

“Shutting the venue is not the solution, Piano Man Jazz Club made a genuine mistake which was not aimed at offending anyone and they are guilty about it. Everyone should support them, as it is the only Alternative/Non-Bollywood venues in New Delhi. They have supported some of the finest talents of our country and now it’s our time to support them.”

Prachi Kapil, Culture, PR & Social Media Head, BandStand

“All that Piano Man was trying to do was give a platform to a band that was doing something worth giving them a stage to perform for. We have artists in the industry who have weird, uncanny names and we understand that as freedom of speech. There really was and is never any sign of casteism connected to that. I just feel like it’s not at all cool about how this agenda has been built. And in any case, the government just needs a reason to curb freedom of speech, expression and creative freedom. While there is a provision under the law to support the venue, I personally don’t know what comes next, given our government and our law enforcements. I think it’s up to us—the people in the music community—to stand by the venue, the owners and support them completely.”

Girjashankar Vohra, Sound Engineer/Designer & Partner, Depot48

“We are not violent people but music is our weapon of choice. Depot promotes that very philosophy. Our closest friends are all activists so we cannot say we don't understand the impact of casteist slur. One also cannot ignore what some people wrote on social media. I think it's unfortunate how this unfolded and sadly wrong on many levels. We have to recognise our privileges and stop living in bubbles. We have to be the change we wish to see. This has been a huge learning for all of us though I wish we could've achieved all this peacefully. All of us are prone to making mistakes but if the learning from it makes us sensitive we are diligent learners. The eventual goal is to create an inclusive and safe space for everyone.”